Every NBA Draft 2024 prospect with Texas high school basketball ties (live updates)
The 2024 NBA Draft is underway and is not without Texas high school basketball ties as two products of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex heard their names called in the first round on Wednesday evening.
Former Duncanville standout Ron Holland was taken at No. 5 and former McKinney star Ja'Kobe Walter was selected at No. 19 overall.
READ: Ron Holland's rise from Texas high school star to No. 5 pick in 2024 NBA Draft
More are projected to hear their respective names called on Thursday in the second and final round, which starts at 2 p.m. Central time.
Here is every Lone Star State product selected in the 2024 NBA Draft, and those who may be picked in the remainder. This post will be updated as the picks roll in.
Ron Holland II, Detroit Pistons (No. 5)
Pick: No. 5 | Detroit Pistons
Background: G League Ignite | Duncanville (Texas)
Measurables: 6-8
Holland is heralded as an immediate-impact lock-down defender, a multi-level scorer and a dynamic above-the-rim finisher who would now look to do that for the Detroit Pistons. He was all of those things with the G League Ignite this past season, where he averaged 15.3 points, 7.0 boards and 1.3 steals in 14 games before undergoing season-ending thumb surgery. At Duncanville, he was all of that and more through three state championships (though one was stripped). As a high school senior, he was named SBLive's National Player of the Year in 2022-23. Here's what we wrote about him at the end of his prep career:
All year, Holland was, simply put, spectacular. As Duncanville dealt with sanctions — a stripped state title and its head coach being suspended for the season — Holland was the team's steadying force. The versatile 6-foot-8 forward averaged 20.3 points, 10.1 boards, 2.4 assists and 2.0 steals for the No. 1 public school team in the country and helped the Panthers amass a 29-1 record and No. 3 national ranking in the SBLive/Sports Illustrated Power 25 ... Holland's stellar play continued into the postseason, where he shined among his peers atop the 2023 class in the McDonald's All-American Game and Nike Hoop Summit, where he led Team USA to a win with 15 points, nine boards, six steals and five assists.
- Andy Buhler, SBLive (April 13, 2023)
Ja'Kobe Walter, Atlanta Hawks (No. 19)
Pick: No. 19 | Atlanta Hawks
Background: Baylor | McKinney (Texas)/Link Academy (Missouri)
Measurables: 6-4, 200
As Walter led McKinney to a UIL Class 6A state championship as a junior, he rose to one of the nation's top prospects (nation's No. 9 overall prospect, No. 2 shooting guard). Walter played his senior year at Link Academy, where he led the prep school in scoring and helped it win at GEICO Nationals. Steve Turner, Gonzaga College coach who was Walter's Team USA coach at the Nike Hoop Summit in Portland in 2023, tried his hand at a prophetic read. When Walter was a senior in high school, he saw him as an elite next-level 2 or 3-guard: "His skillset allows him to do a lot of different things," Turner said. "He can facilitate, but he can really, really score.” At Baylor, he led the team in scoring (14.2 points per game) as the Bears went 24-11, earned a 3-seed and made the round of 64.
REWIND: Ja’Kobe Walter’s next stop is coming into focus
Jamal Shead, Toronto Raptors (No. 45)
Pick: No. 45 (second round)
Projected: Second round or undrafted
Background: University of Houston | Manor (Texas)
Measurables: 6-1, 200
Jamal Shead is a Toronto Raptor.
— Chancellor Johnson (@ChancellorTV) June 27, 2024
The Big 12 Player of the Year was emotional as he was joined by his entire Houston Cougar family. pic.twitter.com/zcMEp43OWC
Shead was a four-star propsect by the end of his high school career, which he capped with a 19.3-point, 4.3-assist senior season before going on to become the second-winningest player in University of Houston history (120-18). As a senior, he averaged 12.9 points, 6.3 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game as a senior.
KEEP AN EYE OUT
Tyler Smith
Projected: Second round
Background: Overtime Elite | Fort Bend Bush (Texas)
Measurables: 6-10, 205
Smith is an Overtime Elite product, having left Bush High School before his junior season to be among the first to sign a pro contract with Overtime Elite, then he joined Holland on the Ignite, a now-defunct straight-to-pro option conceptualized before the proliferation of NIL in college. In 27 games, the 19-year-old averaged 13.4 points and 5.0 boards for G League Ignite. He was a 5-star prospect when he left Bush.
-- Andy Buhler | andy@scorebooklive.com | @sblivetx
ANDY BUHLER